These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Host-parasite relationship in murine leishmaniasis: pathophysiological and immunological changes.
    Author: Reiner NE.
    Journal: Infect Immun; 1982 Dec; 38(3):1223-30. PubMed ID: 7152667.
    Abstract:
    The host-parasite relationship in human visceral leishmaniasis remains poorly understood. In the present study, pathophysiological and immunological changes were examined in BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania donovani. These animals developed chronic infection with massive hepatosplenomegaly and hypergammaglobulinemia. In contrast to mice inoculated with 0.8 X 10(6) or 4 X 10(6) amastigotes, mice infected with 20 X 10(6) amastigotes failed to reduce liver parasite loads during 2 to 8 weeks of observation. At 8 weeks, liver size was increased by 26, 63, and 94%, respectively, in groups infected with 0.8 X 10(6), 4 X 10(6), or 20 X 10(6) amastigotes. Serum immunoglobulin G and M levels at 8 weeks in animals with the heaviest infection were increased by 53 and 80%, respectively, compared with controls. Specific antileishmanial antibodies were detected in the absence of antigen-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity or in vitro lymphocyte responses. Infection did not suppress the in vivo responses of mice to the non-parasite-related antigens sperm whale myoglobin or pneumococcal polysaccharide. Splenic mononuclear cell responses to phytohemagglutinin were suppressed as early as 2 weeks, and by 8 weeks, mice infected with 0.8 X 10(6), 4 X 10(6), or 20 X 10(6) amastigotes had phytohemagglutinin responses which were, respectively, 27.7, 13.9, and 15.8% of controls. Decreased phytohemagglutinin responses could not be related to reductions in splenic T cells; however, splenic B cells and macrophages were increased at 8 weeks of infection. The course of L. donovani infection and disease in BALB/c mice resembles events occurring in humans and should prove useful in defining mechanisms of immune alterations in visceral leishmaniasis.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]